13. Another NHL coach on the Penguins: “They’re going to be fine. Believe me, no one thinks they’re on the decline.”

Does GM Jim Rutherford concur?

“Yes, of course,” he replied from Edmonton, where Pittsburgh practised before facing the Oilers. “We haven’t got to the level of our game. When you are the champion, everybody wants to beat you. There are no easy games.”

Is there anything that concerns him about what he’s seen?

“It’s too early to tell. If we were playing like this at the midway point, then I would have more concerns than I have right now. I was watching what the Cubs did (this past season). (Manager) Joe Maddon said he didn’t push…. Until the midway point he wasn’t hard on them. For us, we’ve won two of them. There’s the World Cup, it’s a lot of hockey. It’s natural for what we’ve gone through. The hunger will be there at the most important time. We’re not concerned about the President’s Trophy.”

14. The Pittsburgh GM pointed out that all of the team’s defeats except one (last Saturday in Minnesota) were on the rear end of back-to-backs and the blowout in Winnipeg was their fourth game in sixth nights. A lot of the blame was thrown on Antti Niemi, who was waived and claimed by Florida.

“I feel bad for him,” Rutherford said. “I’m not pointing the finger. We gave up some goals that you could point at the goaltender. But the same goalie made five or six saves that should have been goals.”

Casey DeSmith initially came up from AHL Wilkes-Barre, but Tristan Jarry is now with the team and likely plays in Calgary on Thursday. They wanted him to get another weekend of AHL action before calling for him. Is he ready to be the full-time number two?

“Ability-wise, yes, but our preference was for him to have at least a half a season in Wilkes-Barre, get him even more games. We had to accelerate this.”

Fantasy Hockey PoolPlay the Sportsnet Fantasy Hockey Pool for your chance to score big with over $22,000 worth of prizes to be awarded!It's FREE and easy to play! 15. Rutherford says the Penguins need to ease the workload on Kris Letang, but full health should aid that. As for trades, “I don’t feel pressure to get anything done.”

Interesting nugget: they made two previous offers to Detroit for Riley Sheahan. This one closed because Athanasiou’s return brought cap pressure.

16. Finally from Rutherford: He was the only GM to vote against the two-minute penalty for an incorrect offside challenge. He supports video review, but thinks the punishment for being wrong is too harsh.

“Do we want to get it right, or not get it right? If we don’t want to get it right, we should get rid of it.”

He pointed to Chicago’s 5-2 loss to Minnesota on Oct. 12 as an example of the severity. Chris Stewart broke a 1-1 tie with 9:28 remaining. The Blackhawks challenged, failed and gave up a Jason Zucker power-play goal 1:57 later.

“If you were to look at that, those are game changers.”

What I liked about Rutherford’s comments is that he offered a solution, modelled on the game-misconduct rules. Any player who accrues three game misconducts gets a one-game suspension. After that, each additional misconduct increases the next suspension by an extra game. Rutherford suggests something similar for coaches: You get three wrong, you get a penalty. (He added the caveat that if you go, say, 10 games without a wrong one, you lose a “strike” against you.)

“I don’t like the two-minute rule. To me, [this option] provides a little more leniency. Close plays at critical times, you’re not going to ask if you’re worried about being wrong.”

17. A couple of coaches were curious to see how a smart player like Sidney Crosby would adapt to the new faceoff rules. He’s at 55.5 per cent, the best number of anyone who has taken more than 250 draws. The next time you watch Pittsburgh, see how he concedes the circle. “He’s just letting them have the dot,” one said. By doing that, other players are leaning in, going off-balance — and losing.

Crosby has a great “backhand sweep” to his eight o’clock, and I also saw a few examples where he swept the puck past the opposing centre’s blade. It’s another example of how the best adapt, and a reminder of why he continues to excel.

Interested to see Kuhn/Geno/Rust. Horny has deserved a promotion, just as the other Swede has deserved his recent demotion. If Jake/Sheahan/Phil can develop some chemistry, it would really go a long way towards fixing the even strength offensive woes. Phil and Geno (other than PP) is pretty much a lost cause as a line combo.

Not going to say anything about the defense other than prayers at this point; and praise for Dumoulin.

Rutherford came out and said Letang is playing too many minutes. Hmm...well that is one reason for the suck.

I think all this talk about back to backs got to this team and they aren't mentally prepared for them. Getting waxed 7-1 happens to every team a couple of times every season. But to be dominated three times the first month is ridiculous and suggests to me they aren't ready for them.

There are only two players I would say have played to their potential so far. Dumo and Rust. The rest have had spurts but each of them is lacking consistency.

Can they turn on the switch? Sure they can I expect them to get better. But there is an issue of leaving points behind that can come back and fuck you at seasons end.

One last thing, you know this roster is going to change down the road. I suggest the Pens go out and get an 'older' player that they can add to the bottom six. Remember Gary Roberts, Billy Guerin and Matt Cullen. Each of them were instrumental in helping forge each cup team. Roberts wasn't there but his stamp was all over that first cup team. Guerin was there for the first cup and he picked up the slack when Roberts moved on. Pens add Cullen and they go back to back. Not saying Sid or Malkin or Letang can't lead but history has shown that the Pens have gotten over the hump when they added more leadership through experience. Now what player could this be?

13. Another NHL coach on the Penguins: “They’re going to be fine. Believe me, no one thinks they’re on the decline.”

Does GM Jim Rutherford concur?

“Yes, of course,” he replied from Edmonton, where Pittsburgh practised before facing the Oilers. “We haven’t got to the level of our game. When you are the champion, everybody wants to beat you. There are no easy games.”

Is there anything that concerns him about what he’s seen?

“It’s too early to tell. If we were playing like this at the midway point, then I would have more concerns than I have right now. I was watching what the Cubs did (this past season). (Manager) Joe Maddon said he didn’t push…. Until the midway point he wasn’t hard on them. For us, we’ve won two of them. There’s the World Cup, it’s a lot of hockey. It’s natural for what we’ve gone through. The hunger will be there at the most important time. We’re not concerned about the President’s Trophy.”

14. The Pittsburgh GM pointed out that all of the team’s defeats except one (last Saturday in Minnesota) were on the rear end of back-to-backs and the blowout in Winnipeg was their fourth game in sixth nights. A lot of the blame was thrown on Antti Niemi, who was waived and claimed by Florida.

“I feel bad for him,” Rutherford said. “I’m not pointing the finger. We gave up some goals that you could point at the goaltender. But the same goalie made five or six saves that should have been goals.”

Casey DeSmith initially came up from AHL Wilkes-Barre, but Tristan Jarry is now with the team and likely plays in Calgary on Thursday. They wanted him to get another weekend of AHL action before calling for him. Is he ready to be the full-time number two?

“Ability-wise, yes, but our preference was for him to have at least a half a season in Wilkes-Barre, get him even more games. We had to accelerate this.”

Fantasy Hockey PoolPlay the Sportsnet Fantasy Hockey Pool for your chance to score big with over $22,000 worth of prizes to be awarded!It's FREE and easy to play! 15. Rutherford says the Penguins need to ease the workload on Kris Letang, but full health should aid that. As for trades, “I don’t feel pressure to get anything done.”

Interesting nugget: they made two previous offers to Detroit for Riley Sheahan. This one closed because Athanasiou’s return brought cap pressure.

16. Finally from Rutherford: He was the only GM to vote against the two-minute penalty for an incorrect offside challenge. He supports video review, but thinks the punishment for being wrong is too harsh.

“Do we want to get it right, or not get it right? If we don’t want to get it right, we should get rid of it.”

He pointed to Chicago’s 5-2 loss to Minnesota on Oct. 12 as an example of the severity. Chris Stewart broke a 1-1 tie with 9:28 remaining. The Blackhawks challenged, failed and gave up a Jason Zucker power-play goal 1:57 later.

“If you were to look at that, those are game changers.”

What I liked about Rutherford’s comments is that he offered a solution, modelled on the game-misconduct rules. Any player who accrues three game misconducts gets a one-game suspension. After that, each additional misconduct increases the next suspension by an extra game. Rutherford suggests something similar for coaches: You get three wrong, you get a penalty. (He added the caveat that if you go, say, 10 games without a wrong one, you lose a “strike” against you.)

“I don’t like the two-minute rule. To me, [this option] provides a little more leniency. Close plays at critical times, you’re not going to ask if you’re worried about being wrong.”

17. A couple of coaches were curious to see how a smart player like Sidney Crosby would adapt to the new faceoff rules. He’s at 55.5 per cent, the best number of anyone who has taken more than 250 draws. The next time you watch Pittsburgh, see how he concedes the circle. “He’s just letting them have the dot,” one said. By doing that, other players are leaning in, going off-balance — and losing.

Crosby has a great “backhand sweep” to his eight o’clock, and I also saw a few examples where he swept the puck past the opposing centre’s blade. It’s another example of how the best adapt, and a reminder of why he continues to excel.

Agree with A LOT of this. I'm watching games right now purely because I love watching Pens hockey, and doing so with zero intent to use what's happening on the ice right now to predict what's going to happen in June. As long as they're winning enough games to stay in the hunt right now, nothing else matters at all to me. If they're playing like shit two to three months down the road, then I'll be ready to talk about their shortcomings. But right now, we're clearly in the "figuring shit out" phase, a phase they've shown they can overcome before, and one I'm confident they can overcome again.

This team clearly knows what it takes to win championships, and they'll know when it's time to get serious.